


Bring Your Boyfriend to Work Day

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 12:50:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20008579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Daine needs to go back to work, but he can't leave Ydris alone, not when he's still feeling so vulnerable after what happened. Takes place a few weeks after Mine. Daine belongs to HellishSam.





	Bring Your Boyfriend to Work Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HellishSam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HellishSam/gifts).



Daine had always dreamt that when Ydris moved in with him, it would be different. That it would be because they loved each other and because Ydris wanted to make things more official. Not because, well... because Daine didn't trust Ydris anymore. At least, not right now. And maybe that trust would return in time, as Ydris proved himself to be a good and loyal boyfriend. As of right now, though, Daine still had to carefully brace himself when he woke up, afraid that he wouldn't find his boyfriend in bed beside him. At least Ydris called himself Daine's boyfriend now. He hadn't before, which had been part of their problem. Or, at least, one of their many problems. Right now, though, mercifully, Ydris was still asleep in bed beside Daine. Fully clothed, of course. They hadn't been intimate since... well, since before that night when everything had come crashing down. And it wasn't for lack of trying, either, just... every time they even got close, Daine would remember the last person that he'd known Ydris was with. And where before he'd thought that it would fill him with the desire to claim back his boyfriend, now, with everything involved... Daine found that he just couldn't. And he knew that it hurt Ydris every time he pushed him away, but it would take more than a few home-cooked meals and more than a few comforting cuddles and kisses to make everything better.

And yet, despite everything, Daine knew, deep down, that he couldn't go on like this. He couldn't just keep lying in bed, getting up late for breakfast, keeping his boyfriend within eyesight at every moment as though someone would come and snatch him away. He had to go back to work.

"Mon phenix? Where are you going?" Ydris asked as Daine began to move about their darkened bedroom, pulling on jeans and a white undershirt that he'd put his ranger jacket on over.

"Work," said Daine. "Believe me, I don't want to either."

"Could I come with you?" Ydris asked. Daine froze in the process of brushing his hair out of his face, turning to look at his boyfriend who still lay in bed with the sheet draped over his waist. Ignoring the tug in his gut at the thought of every other time he'd seen Ydris like that, Daine tore his gaze away from the sight.

"Why?" Daine asked, continuing his task of getting ready for the day. "I think you'd be bored, unless you're planning on watching me work."

"Perhaps I am," said Ydris.

"Pervert," said Daine, though a smile tugged at his lips.

"Would you prefer me or some old man? Or perhaps a young lady?" Ydris asked. Daine frowned at him.

"Okay, fine, you can come," said Daine, secretly relieved that Ydris had decided to tag along. "Just don't get in my way or in the way of any of the other rangers. We do important work there, you know."

"I know," said Ydris, climbing out of bed and seeking out some casual attire for himself. He'd created for himself some jeans and a purple flannel to wear over a white undershirt, and just secretly, Daine loved the way it looked on him. He even decided to forego his typical tophat today and wore some boots that were sturdier for traversing Mistfall's terrain. Daine had taken him there upon Ydris' insistence, the Pandorian wanting to know more about the land that Daine called home. It had certainly endeared him to Daine more. Just as it did now as Daine watched Ydris run a comb through the hair that he'd left in its naturally curly state today.

"Are you ready?" Daine asked, his cheeks heating as Ydris caught him staring and winked at him.

"Should we not at least eat breakfast first?" Ydris asked.

"Not hungry," Daine lied. Ydris frowned at him, about to protest, but Daine's phone buzzing with a call interrupted him. "Shit, it's the station, we've gotta go."

"Has something happened?" Ydris asked, hurrying after Daine out of the house.

"Just a reminder that they've got me doing some manual labour today," said Daine. Ydris looked a little too excited at that prospect. "Hey, don't look too excited, I might get you to help me out."

"Ah, but I am too physically weak," said Ydris. Daine shook his head.

"See, shit like that is why I find it hard to believe that you think you're a top," said Daine. Ydris opened his mouth to say something else but, at a look of warning from Daine, shut his mouth again. Sexual banter had come so easily to them, once. Were they doomed to never be intimate again?

Part of Daine had expected the ride to Mistfall to be awkward, and maybe it would have been easier if it was. But riding with his boyfriend by his side, Daine taking Cloud while Ydris rode Zee as if she were his own horse rather than a friend from Pandoria, a member of his Circus of Dreams, Daine couldn't help the painful feeling that they were on a date. That this was how it should be, how it should have always been if only he'd spoken up sooner, if he hadn't assumed that Ydris would have just known how much he meant to Daine. If he'd given their 'arrangement' specific terms rather than forgetting about it and just pretending that this was how relationships worked.

"We should have been doing this all along," Ydris had said, his voice sounding choked, on their first ride along this road. Daine had silently agreed but had simply looked ahead, his eyes burning with unshed tears, and urged Cloud to go at a bit of a faster pace. This time, though, Ydris said nothing, though Daine could see the hurt and wistfulness in his gaze as he stared ahead of them and only looked around at their surroundings every now and again. Daine wished that he'd say something. Anything. Even if it were just to marvel at the birds or the way that the sun glittered off the sea, hell, he'd take fucking innuendo at this point over the silence.

"Stop," said Daine just outside the entrance to Mistfall near the mysterious cabin of ill repute that nobody lived in but everyone knew.

"What is it?" Ydris asked, looking concerned as he pulled Zee up to a gentle stop.

"I'm sick of this," said Daine, dismounting Cloud.

"Of what?" Ydris asked, doing the same with Zee.

"Of... this," said Daine, gesturing to the air between the two of them. It felt thick with tension. "I'm fucking sick of not trusting you, not being able to touch you, hell, I can barely look at you sometimes. I'm sick of seeing that look in your eyes when I push you away, and how I can barely stand to let you shower in the morning because I don't know where you are. I just hate this fucking distance between us now. We used to be so close, and... now I can barely even remember what that felt like." He'd started off angry, but now, Daine could feel the hot tears sliding down his cheeks. "I still love you but I wish it could go back to how it was before. Not exactly how but... you know what I mean."

"It can," said Ydris, ever the optimist. But he didn't sound like he usually did when he made those declarations.

"How?" Daine demanded, his voice tight with emotion. "Fucking how, Ydris? Because I'd sure as hell like to know."

"Perhaps we need only to break the tension?" Ydris asked. "I know that you are angry with me. I am angry with me, too. What I did was unforgivable. The fact that you forgave me is a miracle."

"Or maybe it's just me being a desperate fucking idiot," said Daine, folding his arms over his chest and looking down at the ground. Ydris took a step towards him, lifting Daine's chin up with fingers that were ungloved for once.

"You are the least desperate person I have ever met, Daniel," said Ydris gently.

"I fucked a playboy," said Daine. "I fell in love with the first person who showed me basic fucking kindness. I think that counts as desperate."

"I am the fool who fell in love with fire," said Ydris. "Who fell in love with their friend with benefits, an act which many sources have assured me is complete and utter foolishness and yet bound to happen. And yet, I only fell in love with one of those particular friends."

"You'd better not be lying," said Daine. "If you're lying, I'll knock your fucking teeth down your throat."

"You, of all people, should know that I do not admit weakness lightly," said Ydris. "Nor do I admit failure readily. But I am readily able to admit to you, to anyone who asks, that my greatest mistake was in agreeing to our arrangement. I should have been your boyfriend all along, as I said the last time we both came here. Think how happy we could be together, how happy we were together until I ruined everything with my selfishness." In the back of Daine's mind, he heard Willow saying that Ydris was a liar. But Daine liked to think that he could tell when someone was lying. And Ydris looked as honest and humble as it was probably possible for him to get. Well, almost. Standing on Daine's carpet dripping wet with a bruise forming on his jaw from Daine's punch was just a touch more humble.

"Do you really mean that?" Daine asked. "Or are you just saying that so I'll sleep with you again with the tension gone?"

"Though I have missed our intimacy, that is not my end goal today," said Ydris. "I only wish that I could erase the hurt from your heart, the doubt from your mind, the frown from your face."

"Yeah, pretty sure that frown is permanent," said Daine. "I'm going to be hurting for a long time, though. You know that, right?" This past few weeks, he'd longed for Cole more than he ever had before. Not that he'd tell Ydris that. Not that he'd tell anyone that except for Astor, who already knew, who had stopped Daine from trying to join Cole.

"Of course I do," said Ydris. "I will do everything in my power to ease your suffering and make up for what I have done to you. Just say the word, and I will do it." The childish temptation to have Ydris beg on his knees or do Daine's work for him flashed through his mind. But instead, Daine turned slightly and pointed to the cabin behind them. Ydris watched, shock widening his eyes.

"I'll tell you what you can do in that cabin," said Daine.

"Are you certain?" Ydris asked.

"Fuck no," said Daine. "But maybe we've been too hesitant. Maybe we just need to jump in at the deep end and see what happens. It's how I've done things my whole life and it's worked out for me so far."

"I could never take someone unwilling," said Ydris. "Didn't you have work?"

"I don't remember you being unwilling," said Daine. "I've done this before, remember? Throwing myself at you to escape my feelings? It's how I lost my fucking virginity, even."

"It feels like I'm taking advantage of you," said Ydris. "Taking advantage of someone in a vulnerable state."

"Why can't you just be easy?" Daine groaned.

"Because love never is," said Ydris. That was all Daine needed to close the distance between them, mashing his lips to Ydris' with a fervour that took the Pandorian's breath away before he was suddenly slamming Daine's back into the door of the cabin with a growl of desire that almost made Daine's toes curl.

For a brief moment, in the instant that Ydris teleported them inside of the cabin and to the bedroom, Daine wondered if this was what it had been like with Ariana. But then, he shoved that thought aside and gave himself over to pleasure.


End file.
